Cuba in Old Time Radio

Florida points south like a guiding thumb pressing down on the back of Cuba. Lying at the point where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Atlantic all meet, for centuries Cuba was the jewel of the Spanish Empire from the days of Columbus until the Spanish American War at the end of the nineteenth century. The island nation became a component of the Cold War after Communist Revolutionary Fidel Castro wrested power from the corrupt Batista regime.

Cuba had relatively little to do with the Cold War episode which brought the Superpowers closest to open Atomic Warfare, the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Island nation was merely the stage for a drama whose players were in Moscow and Washington DC. Despite Cuba's ties to the Soviets, Castro's revolution meant that for the first time since Columbus, the fate of Cuba and the Cubans were in Cuban hands, but these are events which would take place after the Old Time Radio era.

In 1898, the United States and Imperial Spain went to War over Cuban Independence. The events which ultimately led to the War had more to do with commercial interests and scandal-mongering than Patriotism, but in the decades leading up to the War Presidents Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, Grant, and McKinley had all made offers for the U.S. to buy the island from Spain. There had been numerous separatist movements arising on the island, but the Spanish Crown help on to the memory of how, over the centuries, it had grown rich as wealth from its Pacific Colonies crossed that great ocean, were carried over the Isthmus of Panama, and funneled with the riches of the Americas through Cuba before making the final journey across the Atlantic.

For all the wealth which would funnel through Cuba after 1492, the island was a hard place to live, work, or attempt to conquer. The indigenous peoples were farmers and fishermen, but they were wiped out by enslavement and European diseases within a few generations. Africans were forcibly imported as slaves. The politics of Continental Europe were eventually imported to the region. Proxy Warfare through piracy dominated the Caribbean for decades, although the treasure galleons which carried the wealth of the Empire were so heartily defended as to be practically untouchable.

• Cavalcade of America, October 4, 1948, NBC, "Action at Santiago". After the USS Maine explodes in Havana Harbor and the US has declared War on Spain, citizens of the Eastern Seaboard are convinced that the Spanish Fleet under Admiral Cevera will appear out of nowhere and begin bombarding their cities if the Navy cannot find them in time. When the Spanish Fleet finally turns up in Cuba, the American Battleship Fleet holds them in Santiago Harbor, but what if they run the blockade at night? The Americans decide to scuttle the Merrimac, a collier, in the entrance of the harbor, and it becomes the job of Lt Hobson and his crew of volunteers to maneuver the ship into position to be sunk, all the while within range of the Spanish guns.
• Cavalcade of America, April 6, 1942, Red Network, "Yellow Jack". The Spanish American War is over but American troops are waiting to get shipped home, but they are being decimated by Yellow Fever. Major Walter Reed is dispatched to the scene to find a way to fight the disease, which will be vital to complete the Panama Canal.
• Escape, October 22, 1949, CBS, "Night in Havana". A wealthy American tourista in Havana has had her emerald stolen and the "Usual Suspects" get shaken down. Martinez learns that there is a reward being offered so he decides that he should recover the emerald himself if it does not interfere with his gun-running business.
• Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, September 19, 1951, CBS, "The Cuban Jewel Matter". The Insurance Company sends Johnny to Havana to meet with a crook about to be extradited to the US on a separate charge, but they believe he has $800,000 in stolen jewels (which they have insured) hidden in the city. Before Dollar can get his answers, the crook breaks out of the Havana Prison and the chase is on!
• Suspense, September 14, 1953, CBS, "Message to Garcia". The same story, although not the same script, was used on Cavalcade of America in "Mission to Cuba". The USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, but there was no Declaration of War until June. In the meantime, the War Department was determined to gather as much information about the situation on the Island as possible. Lt Rowan of the US Army travels secretly to Jamaica to contact allies of General Calixto Garcia, the leader of the Cuban Guerillas resisting the Spanish. Rowan, played by Richard Widmark, will have some dangerous adventures in the Cuban Jungle before he meets Garcia, and face even more danger getting his information back to the War Department.
• Forbidden Cargo, 1954, Artransa Syndication, "Running Wetbacks". A show about fighting smugglers. The crooks, in this case, are bringing in refugees from Cuba, but they have to change tactics when their airplane crashes and burns in Florida (along with its passengers). They change to a seaborne operation, and if the Coast Guard gets to close, they just need a little extra weight to get rid of the "evidence".

See also: Cuban Missile Crisis.